Bronze Medal Game- Lithuania 92 Greece 63

01.08.2004

Jon Ingram

After being on the wrong hands of a drubbing against Slovenia in the semi-finals, Lithuania dished out some punishment of their own in the bronze medal game of the Eural Trans Gas European Championship for U20 Men.

Greece were unfortunate enough to bear the brunt of Lithuania’s anger and they went down in spectacular fashion.

Arturas Jomantas (LTU)

These two teams know each other well and met almost exactly one year ago in the semi-final of the World Championship for U19 Men in Thessaloniki, Greece.

Lithuania were the victors on that occasion too, albeit in a much closer encounter, 75:72. Lithuania went on to win a silver medal, while Greece consoled themselves with a bronze.

This time around, however, there is no consolation for Greece.

After disappointing in their semi-final loss to Israel, the Greeks played once again well below their capabilities. Konstantinos Vasileiadis had probably his worst game of the tournament in the semis. Ironically enough, he was at his best against Lithuania, while his team-mates could not match his intensity.

Vasileiadis scored 33 points in the losing effort, but by the midway point of the third period, it was clear that Lithuania was the only team in contention for the bronze medal.

Konstantinos Vasileiadis (Greece)

An 8-point halftime lead was turned into 16 by the end of the third and Greece’s hopes of medalling in their third consecutive competition (they also won bronze at the 2002 European Championship for U18 Men) were over.

Lithuania rediscovered a scoring touch which had emphatically deserted them against Slovenia. As a team, they made 35/73 (48%) of their field goals while out-rebounding Greece 46-30.

Arturas Jomantas had a great game for Lithuania, scoirng a team-high 23 points on 8/12 shooting. Linas Kleiza was his usual dependable self and finished with 19 points, while Paulius Janjunas recorded his 5th double-double in 8 games, 12 points and 18 rebounds.